Columns

As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, let us remember our responsibilities to government and its responsibilities to us.

The Bible teaches that believers are to be law-abiding citizens; they are to “be subject unto the higher powers,” because “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1). Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth to obey the Roman government’s decree that a census be taken.

I attended the special Lancaster County Council meeting about the I-77 Alliance snub. I sat in the back. I was a little late and couldn’t get my name on the list to speak.

So, I figured I would stay for the meeting. I couldn’t believe what I heard and witnessed. This whole issue is personal, it has nothing to do with any law-breaking or violation of any ordinance. The action taken by the council to freeze Lancaster County Economic Corp. (LCEDC) budget, in my opinion, is an abuse of power.

At the June 9 Lancaster County Council meeting, when introducing the development agreements, Council Chairman Larry McCullough indicated that the MI Homes development agreement included a payment of $500 per house to the county for the benefit of Lancaster County School District.

McCullough further indicated that provision had been made by the Lancaster County Planning Commission that the school district be given a 30-day opportunity to suggest a contribution level that was more representative of the cost of constructing a new school.

After the Benghazi attack President Barack Obama went on The View and said this about the attack, “We don’t know what happened, it looks like a response to a video.” Then in the debates of 2012, when challenged by Mitt Romney about the video story he said, “We knew the next day that it was a terrorist attack and I said so in the Rose Garden speech the next day.” He was supported by the moderator which showed her obvious bias, considering it was at best an interpretation of his comments and at worst an out right lie.

The string of headlines on ethics issues over the past six years means the time has come to strengthen our laws. Recently, the House put the finishing touches on a bi-partisan Ethics Reform Act that passed 110-0. A true recounting of this issue would take many pages, so here are a few of the major reforms our Ethics Reform Act fixes:

Exactly 40 years ago this summer, a brash 36-year-old reformer running for governor called the state Senate “a den of thieves.” A majority of Democratic voters agreed with him, and Charles D. “Pug” Ravenel won the primary to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.

After six years of peeling back layers of our corrupt state government, nothing should surprise us.

And yet Judge Casey Manning’s ruling was still a shock – it didn’t seem possible for a judge to shut down a grand jury investigation into alleged corruption by the speaker of the house and argue that Bobby Harrell’s staff and colleagues on the House Ethics Committee must first decide if he had committed a crime.

“Let’s pass the law even though we know we do not like all that is in it. Then we can clean it up and change the areas that concern us through amendments immediately after,” said one Lancaster County Council member.

The Panhandle overlay district was passed by Lancaster County Council on June 9. Councilwoman Charlene McGriff, a Democrat, made the motion to approve, commenting, “What if we move forward, pass the third reading, and then move forward immediately with amendments to change some of the concerns we have.”

Republican council members Larry McCullough, Bob Bundy and Brian Carnes agreed with McGriff and passed the motion.

The Bible declares that God is faithful, meaning that he is firm, reliable, steadfast, sure, dependable, and trustworthy. The Hebrew word for faithful is “aman,” from which we derive our English word “Amen.”